


Lily's Prongslet

by Koizumi_Scarlet



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Marauders' Era, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-02 01:42:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4040854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koizumi_Scarlet/pseuds/Koizumi_Scarlet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry never expected to be de-aged and sent to the past, but it was an occupational hazard with Luna there. Lily never expected to be interrupted mid-tirade by the appearance of a young boy, much less one who was her son from the future. Even more so when it was also the son of her arch-nemesis. And definitely not that it would change her opinion of James Potter forever. FOUR-SHOT.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, my uni exams started just about two week ago and I should be busy studying, so of course, I decide to write a short story. Figures. My mind is crazy and I’m waaaay too good at procrastination.  
> Anyway, this is a very short four-shot and it’s not romantic in nature, rather orientated on family. I just got this craving to write this and did it over two days, though the editing took longer.  
> Disclaimer: Obviously I don’t own Harry Potter, otherwise I wouldn't be posting this here. I find that these disclaimers are royally annoying, so I’m not going to post one with every chapter, instead this one counts for the entire story.  
> And so, enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter 1**

“Hermione, I’m fine! Really, it was just a normal nightmare, nothing more.” Harry sighed in exasperation as Hermione continued biting her bottom lip, wringing her hands as she scrutinized Harry.

“But Harry-”

“Honestly Mione, give the man a break. Voldemort’s been dead for over two months now, why would Harry still have visions from him? Your nagging isn’t doing him any good.” Harry smiled as Ron gave Hermione a quick kiss, effectively distracting her. Rather than continue looking at Hermione’s reddening cheeks and happy smile, he turned his thoughts inwards.

The nightmare really was nothing new. Ever since Voldemort died, he’s been having vicious nightmares, ranging from his parents’ deaths to the faces of everyone who died in the Second Rising of Voldemort, accusing him of not doing enough for them. It didn’t help that just walking around Hogwarts caused memories of blood and sightless eyes to rise up in his mind.

 Every time he so much as looked at Ron or Ginny, he saw Fred’s lifeless body. There were a few times he almost called out to Colin Creevey, only to realise it was his brother Dennis. Every weekend, when he went to visit Teddy at Andromeda’s, he would be swamped with guilt and could never stay longer than an hour.

Of course, he never told Hermione and Ron the content of his dreams, knowing they would try and convince him it wasn’t his fault, that they would try to find some solution. As it was, he couldn’t keep the fact that he had violent nightmares from them and Hermione had already come up with a theory as to why he had these nightly terrors.

She said that the various books on psychology and trauma mentioned something along the lines of Post-traumatic Stress disorder.

Yet despite Hermione’s lectures on what he should do to better his condition, Harry was sure that this wasn’t what he had. After all, he didn’t really get flashbacks when he was awake, he didn’t have certain triggers, nor was he startled easily, by loud noises or crowds. Sure, he didn’t like crowds, but that had been true before the war ever started and he didn’t find himself prone to panic more easily than before.

Harry thought it was simply that before he didn’t have the time to harbour these thoughts. During the war, he always had a purpose, he was always on the move to save someone or fight someone. Before Voldemort was dead, he wasn’t allowed to relax and let go.

Now however…

“Harry! Honestly, where have you been? I’ve been calling you for the last minute and you completely ignored me. What are you thinking about?” His head snapped up at the ire in Hermione’s voice and he smiled sheepishly.

“Sorry, I was miles away. I was thinking about this year. Do you think we’re going to be taught the normal seventh year, or do you think they’re going to make some changes? Will all the students do their year over?” Sighing imperceptibly in relief, he listened as Hermione’s eyes lit up and she started babbling about the new year. If there was one thing that could distract Hermione, it was school, or Ron for that matter.

“Oh, it’s really quite logical! Every student will do the year they spent under the Carrows’ over. That means that the new First years coming in will be having classes with last year’s First years. However, Professor McGonagall announced that if you had special permission from the school and from your parents, then the First Years who had to do their first year over can receive permission to go to Hogsmeade in their Second year, since they’re technically thirteen. I’m not sure what happens when they turn 17 in their Seventh year though? Also, the Ministry must have it bad, with almost no new graduates coming this year…”

Harry tuned out Hermione’s excited babbling and shared a grimace with Ron, before both snorted in amusement. Hermione abruptly stopped as she flushed, sheepishly stating, “I did it again didn’t I? Sorry guys.” Slinging his arm over her shoulders, Ron grinned.

“No worries Mione. You wouldn’t be the Hermione we know and love if you didn’t ramble over boring, yet fascinating stuff.” Ron yelped as Hermione casted a stinging jinx towards his hand, sniffing because he mocked her as he emphasized ‘fascinating’ in a soprano voice that she correctly assumed was meant to be her’s. Harry just chuckled, leading the way to the Great Hall to get some breakfast.

A voice calling his name had him turn his head as he entered the Great Hall.

“Good morning Harry!” Smiling, Harry accepted the hug from Ginny. Since the war ended, he and Ginny hadn’t yet talked about resuming their relationship, which Harry was thankful for. It wasn’t that he didn’t still love Ginny, it was just that he didn’t want to burden her with him as he was now. His demeanour had gotten to the level of his Fifth year as he battled with the exhaustion his nightmares induced. While he was still unsure about his mind and himself, he didn’t want to start anything he might end up damaging with his temper.

“Morning Gin. Sleep well? Did the First Years settle in all right?” Ginny, who was a sixth year prefect, nodded as she smiled.

“Yep, they settled in just fine. There were one or two who had the waterworks, but nothing a few Weasley Fireworks couldn’t cure, courtesy of George.” Harry smiled but inside his heart contracted at the thought of the lone Weasley twin. He was once again working at Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, using the making of products to keep his mind off the death of his other half. Angelina Johnson, their old Quidditch chaser and captain, as well as Lee Jordan, a close friend and Quidditch announcer, were helping him with the store. Ron had plans to become an auror when they finished Hogwarts, but he had also considered helping George out at the store part-time.

“Anyway, I wanted to ask you when you think Quidditch try-outs will be held? You’ve been made captain again this year and I know a few people who are dying to get in the air and game!” Smiling, Harry’s face lit up as he thought of Quidditch. That, at least, was one thing he could use to distract himself from the morbid thoughts he had these days.

“Not sure, but I’ll set it up as soon as possible. Keep an eye on the Notice board in the Common Room. I’ll post it there tomorrow or the day after.” Nodding, Ginny said her goodbyes and happily walked back to her friends. Grabbing a seat at the table, Harry listened with a smile as Hermione and Ron bickered, all the while looking on in amusement as Hermione dished for Ron without breaking a stride in her scolding.

Looking around the Great Hall, he saw students chattering as the sun shone down on them from the enchanted ceiling and ignored the painful twinge as he saw Professor McGonagall sitting in the Headmaster’s chair.

All in all, it was good to be back home.

HP

Groaning, Harry sat back as Ron thoroughly trounced him in Wizards’ Chess. He just didn’t have the strategic mind Ron had. Sure, he could make good plans, but they’re usually the at-the-moment type, not anticipating-five-moves-ahead type. Watching as his king was beaten to rubble by a knight, he sighed. He had never met anyone as brutal as Ron at chess and he didn’t want to ever play against the person who taught him.

“Another go Harry?” His eyes glinting with humour, Ron leaned back and guffawed at Harry’s death glare. Holding his hands up, he was about to reply when Hermione dropped down next to him.

“Beating Harry at chess again Ronald? Honestly, why don’t you try to teach him your tricks if you want more competition?” The bushy-haired girl asked her boyfriend next to her.

“I’ve tried! He just doesn’t learn!” About to protest in defence of his learning abilities, he was interrupted as a post owl glided through the window and dropped down in front of Ron. Sticking out its leg, Ron curiously untied the small parcel and the owl took off as soon as he delivered his burden.

“From who is it?” Hermione inquired curiously, her eyes analysing the shape of the parcel that Ron held. Opening the small note that came with it, his blue eyes scanned what was written, before he turned to the parcel with a look of excitement.

“It’s from George. Apparently, it’s something he and F-Fred worked on before… well, you know…” There was a sad silence, before Harry forced a smile on his face and chirpily asked what everyone was thinking.

“So? What does it do? Something nasty, something funny or something dangerous?” Chuckling at Harry’s question, Ron answered as he unwrapped the parcel to reveal a small potion’s vial filled with a clear sunny yellow potion.

“Well, he said it’s something they made that can either be a magnificent prank or be used to have a day of happiness. However, they haven’t sorted out all the glitches, so they can’t be sure of exactly how long the potion is going to last.”

“Let me guess,” Hermione said, disapproval on her face, “he wants you to test it on students, preferably some Slytherin’s right?” Correctly reading the expression on her boyfriend’s face, she crossed her arms.

“Absolutely not! You have no idea what that potion can do. What if it harms them? What if it’s irreversible? You cannot test it on some unsuspecting student, even if they are Slytherins!”

“Oh come on Hermione! It’s not as if the slimy snakes don’t deserve it! Let me test it on Malfoy and his cronies! You know they came off too light in the trials because of Harry’s interference.”

“Harry interfered because they didn’t deserve Azkaban, even if they were on Voldemort’s side. He knows-”

Harry’s head whipped back and forth as he watched the argument between Hermione and Ron escalating. Personally, he could see the funny side in pranking the Slytherins, but that is only if the potion was really as harmless as George claims. With George, harmless is puking your guts up or growing a tongue three meters long and nearly suffocating.

“Hello Harry. I see the Bumbledingers are making Hermione and Ron lose their senses and become unaware of how loud they are.” Starting as a blond sat down next to him, Harry rubbed his eyes in confusion, sure he was mistaking her for someone else.

“Luna! What are you doing here?”

“The Gozzlegaps told me to come here and then tempted Ginny into opening the Portrait from the inside for me. They were quite worried about you.” Harry stared in perplexed awe at Luna, the state he usually was in when in the Ravenclaw’s company. Looking around, he saw Ginny shrug her shoulders in bafflement, and decided to just accept the eccentrics of Luna. She usually knew far more than she let on, though it always took a while for others to reach that same level of understanding.

“Why would the G-Gozzlegaps be worried about me? Is something bad going to happen to me?” The dreamy-eyed girl hummed, swaying lightly to her melody, before she turned to look at Harry, seeming to stare into his very soul.

“It depends on how you look at it. I think it is something very exciting and could very well help you keep these Babbling Bezonks away at night. They babble so much when it becomes dark, that they cause terrible nightmares for those who have to listen to their incessant chatter.”

Harry snapped back to Luna. How she had known about his nightmares, he had no idea. Only Ron and Hermione knew about those and he knew they would never tell anyone else. But then again, this was Luna and he was used to her knowing stuff that no one else knew.

“So, this thing that’s going to happen to me is supposedly going to help me overcome my nightmares?” That couldn’t be too bad then right? He just wondered why Luna had to come now, so close to curfew, and not tomorrow. His musings were cut short as Luna started talking again.

“Hmmm’mm. Did you know that The Ministry has an entire room dedicated to Timely Trupnuffles? As the name might suggest, they live outside time. They are distant relatives of the phoenix, though when they burn on their burning day, they don’t rise from the ashes. Rather, their ashes are used by the ministry in Time Turners, since it possesses the quality to manipulate time. But a Trupnuffle’s ashes are too strong for the Ministry to control, so they place it inside a container. However, if a person makes contact with the ashes without the container to buffer them, it’s so much stronger.”

Harry stared at the happily humming Luna in mystification. He was faintly aware that Hermione and Ron’s argument were heating up and soon Hermione would explode, but the majority of his attention was focused on the odd puzzle of a girl next to him. 

“Luna…” Harry started carefully, “Why is this important for me to know?” The blond stopped humming and turned her eerie gaze on the Boy Who Lived.

“Why, because otherwise you wouldn’t know how to get back of course.”

Before Harry could reply, a scream of frustration echoed through the Common Room as Hermione lunged for the potion held in Ron’s hand, who tried to keep it away from her. In their struggle, the potion was knocked out of Ron’s hand and the cap slipped off.

Things happened very fast after that.

Harry was barely aware that the potion spilled all over him, soaking into his hair and skin. He had the disorientating sensation of falling, mixed with the slight queasy feeling he remembered from drinking Polyjuice Potion.

“I’m sorry Harry. But it will be better this way, you’ll see.” Before Harry could respond or even think about what was happening, Luna had upended a small hourglass-figured vial over his hair, sprinkling him with the glittering sands within, before she whipped it away.

And before Harry could even so much as gasp, he vanished in a blinding flash of light.

HP

Lily slammed her book shut as the loud laughter of the band of misfits by the fire interrupted her studying once more. Breathing deeply, she tried to keep her mother’s advice in mind and slowly counted to ten, only to have a shriek, followed by another peel of laughter interrupt her once more.

Knocking back her chair as she stood abruptly, she ignored Alice’s pleadings for her to sit back down and not trouble herself with those who didn’t matter. It was rare that she had the chance to spend an evening with her friend in the Gryffindor Common Room, seeing as she had Head Girl duties and also resided in the separate rooms set aside for the Head Girl and Head Boy. Of course, it just had to be the day that Potter and his gang decided to spend their time fooling around in the Common Room as well.

Striding across the common room, she planted herself behind the couch with her hands on her hips, glaring down at the two black-haired boys, one brown-haired boy and a mousy blond.

“Potter, Black! Will you stop your childish actions and boorish laughter so that those of us who would like to study for the NEWTs can do so in peace!” Laughing grey eyes and sheepish hazelnut eyes turned to look at her, while the other two boys tried to make themselves look inconsequential.

“Lily petal, how wonderful to see you!”

“Shut up Potter. I expected better of you, since you’ve been made Head Boy this year, but it seems I’m to be disappointed. Don’t you care about your NEWTs?”

“Oh come on Evans! NEWTs are only in May and June! School just started!” Sirius Black, notorious prankster, disowned heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black and Seventh year Gryffindor, leaned back folded his arms behind his neck as he grinned roguishly up at the redhead Head Girl.

Sniffing, Lily glared down at him. “School hasn’t just started, it’s been more than two months. And in case you didn’t know, the NEWTs handle all of the work we covered this year, as well as sixth year work. It would be in your best interest to study throughout the year instead of the usual magic tricks you do.”

“Aw Lily Petal, have we ever failed an exam? Plus, we do a lot more than just magic tricks. They are works of art!” Feeling her face redden as she became angrier, she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. It wouldn’t do for the Head Girl and Head Boy to start a shouting match. Of course, Black just had to open his big mouth.

“Besides, the slimy gits deserve it, especially Snivellus. He’s the worst of the lot! Hah, I remember that beautiful time in fifth year that we taught him a lesson.” Remembering the moment she lost her only childhood friend, the moment he called her a mudblood, caused fire to rush through her veins. She also remembered how he had been doing nothing more than reading quietly when Potter and his groupie attacked and taunted him. The incident of the other day, with Black and Snape duelling it out in the corridors popped up in her head and her ire boiled over.

“AND WHOSE FAULT DO YOU THINK THAT IS? You guys are so childish, always playing these stupid pranks like they mean something!! You are a shame to Gryffindor and act as if you are God’s gift to mankind when really, you are just dull little kids wanting some meaningless attention. You disgust me!”

Sirius’ face had steadily reddened and he stood up with his clenched fists by his side. James, knowing that his friend was thinking of the words his hateful mother had spewed last summer when she disowned him, hurriedly stood up, trying to defuse the situation.

“Now, now Petal, that was uncalled for-”

“DON’T call me Petal! I’M SICK OF YOU ALWAYS TALKING IN THAT SUGARY SWEET VOICE! It’s time you grow up and stop imagining that anything is possible between us, James Potter!!” James face crumpled and paled and he dropped the hand he had been reaching out with. Then his eyes hardened and he sneered.

“Well Evans, then I’ll be glad to tell you-”

A flash of bright light and a pop interrupted whatever James was about to say. In an instant, Alice was by Lily’s side, with Remus and Peter, the two boys from before, next to James and Sirius’ side. Lily blinked her eyes, trying to get rid of the bright afterimage and she looked around. The entire Common Room was quiet as everyone tried to see what caused the light.

The silence was interrupted with a slight sniffle and the sound of someone sobbing.

Alice was the first to move, as she moved towards a couch next to the one James and Sirius had sat on. A bundle of robes were lying on the couch, slightly quivering as the sobbing continued to emanate from the robes. Kneeling next to the couch, she ignored the numerous wands pointed towards the bundle and gently lifted the fabric, gasping as she saw what was beneath.

A sudden movement from the robes had everyone tensing, spells on their lips, only to stop in puzzlement as the robes slipped off to reveal a tousled head of black hair and big green eyes with a pair of glasses hanging off one ear. Seeing the many wands pointed at him, the child shrieked and launched himself off the couch, terrified to be surrounded by so many strangers. Reflexively Sirius fired a stunning spell towards the child, startled by the shriek and sudden movement.

However, before Lily could gasp in fear, the child nimbly dodged the spell without looking and dived behind an armchair in the corner of the Common Room next to the fireplace. They could all hear the renewed sobbing from behind the armchair.

“Black! What do you think you’re doing! He’s just a child!” Alice rounded on Sirius, poking him roughly in the chest.

“I…I-I’m sorry… It was just a reflex. I didn’t mean to try and hurt him.” Sirius stammered in the face of Alice’s wrath. Damn, she was just as scary as Lily.

“But… H-How did h-he get h-h-here?” Peter stuttered, peeking out from behind Remus. Alice shrugged as she moved towards the armchair. She held up a finger to show that everyone had to be quiet, before she knelt again and called out.

“Hello? You don’t have to be afraid, we won’t hurt you. Can you come out please?” The sobbing continued as the boy seemed to ignore Alice. Thinking for a bit, she slowly took out her wand, ignoring the scrambling sound that came from behind the chair. Flicking it, various coloured bubbles emerged from the tip, twinkling happily as they floated around. It wasn’t long before the crying tapered down and the boy just sniffled, his eyes fixed on the bubbles, at least as far as Alice could see.

“There you go. See, I won’t hurt you. It’s going to be ok. Come on out and we’ll try and find your mummy and daddy.” She was a bit unnerved to see the big emerald orbs pinning her in place, before he inched a bit closer.

“Mummy? Daddy? Whewe mummy an’ daddy? Dwey left Hawwy.” Alice didn’t know what to say to this and looked over her shoulder at Lily, pleading with Lily to help her. She was an only child and didn’t have much experience with children. But Lily had a sister, shouldn’t she know what to do? Alice completely ignored the fact that Lily had an older sister and so wouldn’t know what to do with a small child.

“Peter, go call Professor McGonagall.” At the sound of Lily’s voice, the small child inched closer to the opening, peeking out from behind the chair. As Lily turned and walked towards Alice to try and help her coax the child from behind the chair, the child perked up.

“Mummy!” Like a shot, the small child ran from behind the chair and barrelled into Lily’s legs, wrapping his tiny arms securely around her. Lily wind-milled her arms to try and keep her balance as the child continued clutching at her. She looked at Alice in confusion, automatically bending to pick up the small body, making sure she had a secure hold on him through all the excess robe he was still wrapped in. As soon as he was in her arms, he buried his head in her neck and hair, his small hands gripping the back of her robes. He was continuously babbling, though Lily couldn’t hear a word of what he was saying, as it was muffled by her hair.

“Wha- What is going on?! Evans, you have a kid??” Glaring at Black, Lily answered while trying to calm down the strange child that had wrapped his legs around her middle and was clinging to her like a monkey.

“Of course not! I’m almost seventeen, why would I already have a child that looks to be around a year old? Did I miss nine months of my education without me noticing? His mother probably has red hair or something, so he’s confusing us.”

“Well, he’s holding onto you pretty determinedly. He sure thinks you’re his mother.” The small head lifted from where it had been buried in Lily’s hair, blinking as his eyes landed on James. One tiny hand released Lily as he reached out, calling loudly as he was able to.

“Daddy!” James blinked once, confounded, before Sirius burst into laughter. “Oh no, no way, I’m no one’s dad. I’m not your dad kid, you got the wrong person!” As James continued to stutter his rejection, the jade eyes filled with tears as his small rosy bottom lip trembled.

“Daddy…?” Sighing in exasperation, Lily glared at James. “Get over here Potter! Even if you aren’t his dad, he thinks you are and it’s the easiest way to keep him calm.” James gulped, before his head slumped and he walked over, taking the small reaching hand in his own. The entire face of the tiny boy lit up and he sighed in contentment as he laid his head on Lily’s shoulder, smiling at James as he fell asleep clutching both Lily and James.

There was an awkward silence, before the portrait opened and Professor McGonagall entered with a wheezing Peter behind her. Her eyes immediately alighted upon the strange sight of the Head Boy and Head Girl holding a small child. Pursing her lips, she strode forwards.

“What on earth is going on here?”

Lily and James glanced at one another, before they both smiled sheepishly. Where to start explaining…?

HP


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAW you guys!! Thanks for all the follows and favourites and THANK YOU to ElnaK for your comment!! I really appreciate the effort!!  
> I’ve gotten a few questions about Harry on my ff.net account, some of which will be explained in this chapter, but if you want a better explanation for why Harry acts older than his physical age, READ THIS! If not, then just skip over it.  
> I know Harry moves way too agilely for a two year old and you will see in this and the next chapter that his language and behaviour is a bit advanced. I wrote it like that deliberately, because though Harry has been de-aged to his two year old self, the potion was still in the experimental phase, hence why it didn’t reverse itself and didn’t de-age him perfectly.  
> Also, I believe Harry would at this stage be a bit more independent and mature than normal two year olds, as he’s already (to his memory) been neglected for about 8 months by his ‘loving aunt and uncle’. Being that agile is uncommon, but not impossible for two years old. and though Harry doesn’t have his memories beyond two years of age, his body still had a bit of his reflexes left, since his memories wasn’t erased, simply buried.  
> James, Lily and the others won’t question his advanced maturation, simply because they don’t have a lot of experience with small children, at least pertaining to the details of their growth.  
> Opinr: I hope my author’s note answered most of your question:) The awareness that Harry has comes mostly after he is returned to his normal age, since he will remember his time as a two year old. I also didn’t want to make him too old, as his memories of his parents shouldn’t be too faded.  
> If any of you still has questions, feel free to comment and ask, I’m always open to explain things! Sorry for the long author’s note, I hope you enjoy chapter 2!

  **Chapter 2**

“Well, near as I can see, he’s around 23 months old, almost 24. His scans are a bit worrying, as he shows signs of malnourishment and deep skin-bruising, as well as a lack of Vitamin D, that can be attributed to spending most of his time indoors. The scar on his forehead seems recent, about 8 months old, but there’s nothing particularly worrying about it. Other than that, he seems fine. I’ll need some of his blood to determine his parents, as well as to analyse the remains of the sparkling particles we found on his robes, but he doesn’t really need to stay in the Hospital wing.”

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled as he watched the squirming boy on the Hospital bed, who seemed determined to wiggle back towards the two Gryffindor students.

Lily sighed, but smiled as she stepped forward, sitting down and gripping the boy as he immediately settled himself on her lap. Much more content now, the small boy gazed around curiously, though his eyes immediately snapped towards Dumbledore when the Headmaster stepped forward. He seemed mesmerized by the bright purple robes that had moving and sparkling stars on them, but nonetheless paid attention when the old man spoke to him.

“Child, can you tell me your name?” Harry nodded and spoke up, mangling his ‘r’s a bit, but nonetheless getting his name across.

“Hawwy. My name Hawwy, not fweak.” Glancing at Lily for reassurance, the small boy nodded decisively. Lily was a bit disturbed to hear that someone had called the adorable child a freak to his face, but maybe it was only a one time occurrence.

“And tell me Harry, what is your mother and father’s name? Where do you live?” Harry’s face scrunched up in thought and he pointed to Lily and James, all the while stating it as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

‘Mummy. Daddy. House go boom an’ Auntie says mummy an’ daddy gone. But they hewe.” Dumbledore nodded as if what the boy said made sense and humm’ed and haw’ed over his explanation. When Madam Pomfrey bustled back with the potion needed to determine his parents in her hand, the Headmaster conjured a piece of parchment and knelt before the boy.

“Harry, we are going to need some of your blood. It won’t hurt a bit, but it might look a bit strange. Lily is going to be with you, so you don’t have to worry.” The raven-haired boy didn’t seem to understand entirely, but he hid his face in Lily’s breast when he saw Madam Pomfrey near with her wand in hand.

“Sanguis ducatur.” A thin stream of blood issues from Harry’s arm, but there was no visible puncture wound. After a moment, the boy peeked out from where he was hiding, and seeing the scary lady had left, he turned around fully, looking curiously as she directed the blood into the potions vial.

Ignoring the lady’s movements for now, he giggled lightly as he stretched out a hand, stroking Dumbledore’s colourful robes and petting the stars. Chuckling, the headmaster ruffled his hair before turning back to Madam Pomfrey as she straightened.

Swirling the vial gently, she waited till it turned a deep red, almost black and then took the parchment the Headmaster held out. Dripping three drops of blood onto the parchment, she placed the vial on the bedside table and waited as the potion spread out and formed words. Frowning, they all watched as the Mediwitch paled, her hands shaking slightly as she read the results. Flicking her wand, she conjured another piece of parchment and repeated the process. If possible, her face seemed to pale even more and she abruptly sat down on the bed behind her, muttering to herself the entire time.

“Poppy? Something the matter my dear?” Dumbledore frowned as she wordlessly held out the parchment, before scanning it over. Lily and James were even more disconcerted to see the even the Headmaster show signs of shock, before it was replaced by the usual twinkling.

“Sir…?” Lily asked cautiously. The Headmaster sad nary a word as he held out the parchment, which she took slowly, barely aware of James leaning over her shoulder. The words on the simple parchment made her shudder and her mind blank.

**Harry James Potter**

**Birth date: 31 July 1980**

**Siblings: None**

**Father: James Charlus Potter**

**Mother: Lily (nee Evans) Potter**

_…Mother: Lily (nee Evans) Potter…_

Lily was vaguely aware that she was hyperventilating, but that particular piece of information was stuck in her head. She snapped to attention when she heard James speaking up hesitantly.

“Professor, ignoring the fact that Lily and I aren’t married and couldn’t possibly have a son together…1980? How is that possible? The year now is 1978…” The twinkle in Dumbledore’s eyes seemed to brighten if possible and he hummed slightly before answering.

“It is my guess, and keep in mind this is just a guess of an old man, that young Harry here had unintentionally come into contact with time sand, without a container to lessen the effects and thus turned him into, basically, a time traveller. The chance of him coming back in time to just the right moment, when his parents were in Hogwarts, is pure coincidence, though a very good one.”

Lily’s head seemed to be ringing. Dumbledore’s explanation was all good and well, but it still pointed towards one glaring fact. In just under two years, she would be married to a boy she couldn’t stand and even be pregnant with his child.

 And this didn’t sit well with her.

“Oh no. No way. No way in hell is this going to happen!” Plunking Harry down on the bed next to her, the hysterical witch stood up, backing away from the concerned faces around her. She felt caged in from all sides and could only see in her mind’s eye spending day after day enduring James Potter as she did all the work around the house.

“No way am I marrying that, that… immature git! No way am I carrying his spawn. No! This stops NOW! I DON’T WANT THIS AND I NEVER WILL!” Spinning on her heel, she was halfway across the room before a small, broken voice stopped her.

“Mummy…?” Lily closed her eyes and tried to harden her heart. This kid wasn’t her’s, it was the kid of some future self that had made a huge mistake. She would not play mum for him, no matter how cute he was or heartbroken he sounded.

“Mummy, come back…” Peeking over shoulder despite herself, she saw that Harry was struggling against Madam Pomfrey, trying to get loose and run to Lily. His eyes were brimming with tears and his shoulders quivering. She tried to ignore him, tried to keep going and never look back, but the sight of those green eyes, which she now realised was an exact replica of her own eyes, glued her feet to the ground. James seemed to be holding his breath, not encouraging or discouraging the small toddler from his efforts.

Certain she was making a mistake, but not able to stop herself, she sighed and her shoulders slumped, but she turned around and started back. Seeing that Lily was returning, Madam Pomfrey let Harry go, who immediately ran towards Harry. She scooped him up, holding his small quivering body close and hating herself for causing him this much distress. Hearing James shift, she glanced up sharply.

“This changes nothing Potter. Don’t get ideas.”

“Wonderful. Then, as Head Boy and Head Girl, I will leave Harry in your care and arrange for another room to be added to the Head Boy and Girl’s quarters for the duration of his visit. I will be asking Professor Slughorn, as well as a ministry contact, to start collaborating in an effort to find a way to send young Harry home. On another note, I must ask that you not tell anyone Harry’s true identity, with the exception of those close friends who will find out whether I banned the information or not.”

With his eyes still twinkling in that infuriating way, Dumbledore swept from the room, revealing a bunch of teens with their ears pressed against the door when he opened the door to the Hospital Wing. Blushing at being caught, Sirius, Peter, Remus and Alice mumbled apologies, which were waved away by Dumbledore, before hurrying to their respective friend in the room.

James looked away from his friends to stare at the small boy clinging to the girl he had a crush on since first year and whom he think he may have loved since fifth year. His head was ringing, trying to process the apparent fact that this tiny boy who looked no more than a year old was his future son.

Don’t get him wrong, he had no problem with the idea of marrying Lily and having a son with her, but it was a bit much to take n at the moment. Not that he showed it. Being raised in the magical world had its privileges and he’d become used to anything being possible. Visit from his son of the future? No problem.

Deciding it didn’t really matter what he thought, since Harry was here now and wouldn’t leave soon, he decided to just accept it and move on.

“So? What’s the verdict?” Sirius eloquent words made Lily sigh as she shifted Harry and James grin with a strange sense of excitement and hope bubbling up within him. It was going to be a long night and he couldn’t wait to see Sirius’ expression.

HP

“WHAT!!!?”

“Sirius, shut up! Your high squealing is scaring Harry!”

“Well I’m sorry Moony, it’s not every day you meet your best friend’s _child_ _from the future,_ not to mention he finally snagged the girl everyone always thought would never be snagged by him! Oh wait… good going Prongs! You finally got her.”

“Thanks Padf-”

“He did not _snag_ anyone! Nor has he _gotten_ me. I will never marry that smug git!”

“Then how do you explain Harry here? Just popped out of a Vanishing Cabinet did he?”

“That… uh… a fluke?”

Lily could hear Alice snorting at her while Sirius guffawed at her pathetic attempt to explain Harry’s existence without the need for her to have intercourse with her arch-nemesis. Remus was smiling slightly in amusement, while Peter looked uncertainly between Lily and Sirius, before following Sirius’ example and chuckling nervously.

However, the man himself stayed quiet, seeming content with spewing bubbles forth from his wand tip, to which Harry was squealing excitedly as he ran around trying to pop them. James had asked Alice for the spell when he saw how uncertain the boy was around people and he remembered the boy -his son- being mesmerized when Alice had used the spell. Lily couldn’t help smiling at the small boy whose laugh was infectious.

 They had all gathered in the small living room of the Head Boy and Girl’s quarters to discuss what happened. Everyone was quite shocked and couldn’t seem to believe it, but it wasn’t long before they started pointing out similarities between Lily, James and Harry. It was Remus, however, who voiced a concern Lily had since she heard Madam Pomfrey’s diagnosis.

“Doesn’t Harry look a bit small for a two year old?” James had looked up at Remus’ question, glancing at Lily to see her response. Swallowing, she answered.

“It seems he’s a bit… malnourished. It could have stunted his growth a bit.”

“Malnourished? How did he become malnourished?” Remus asked in concern.

“Oh, I don’t know, why don’t I just fetch my crystal ball and look into the future to see, hmm?” Lily angrily replied, her worry making her lash out, but a sharp glance from James had her backing down. Normally, she would ignore the git, but she knew she was snappy because of the situation, not because of what Remus said.

“Sorry Remus, I’m tired and a bit shocked, I didn’t mean to bite off your head. We don’t know how it happened or why.”

“It’s alright Lily, I think we’re all a bit tired and shocked. Maybe it’s best if we all went to bed and met tomorrow again to discuss this. I’m certain Harry won’t mind the wait.” Remus smiled as Lily nodded and everyone said their goodbyes. It amused Lily to no end that Harry wouldn’t even come close to Sirius, refusing to acknowledge the teen.

“Well, you did send a stunning spell in his direction Sirius. What else do you expect?”

“Shut up Moony.” Sirius pouted from where he watched enviously as Remus gave Harry a tentative hug. James was laughing at his best friend’s plight and even Lily and Alice was giggling slightly.

It wasn’t long before all the goodbyes were done and Lily and James were left alone with Harry in the living room. “Well… I guess we should turn in as well.”

Lily looked down to see Harry already half-asleep on her shoulder and she nodded to James. Walking over to the new door that had appeared, she opened it to find a small room, complete with decorations of dragons, merpeople, unicorns, centaurs and other magical creatures painted on the walls.

The ceiling was painted with the constellations, and all of the painted creatures or star systems moved. Moving over to the single bed, with covers that had snitches, quaffles and bludgers on it, Lily gently tucked in the sleeping two year old.

Harry jerked awake as he left Lily’s arms and reached out sleepily, protesting. Sitting down next to him, she stroked his hair, before looking around as he seemed to become more awake. Seeing a painting of a phoenix near the headboard, she flicked her wand and charmed the phoenix to sing a soothing lullaby. It wasn’t long before Harry dropped back to sleep again, soothed by the gentle sound and his mother’s fingers carding through his hair.

Standing up slowly, she was relieved to see Harry only sniff before sleeping further and quietly left the room with James on her heels. Before he left the room completely, James flicked his wand to douse the light and then pulled the door partially shut. Ignoring James’ attempt to speak with her, Lily marched straight to her room, closing the door decisively and leaving a confused James outside. Eventually, he turned towards his own room.

It was a long time before either of them fell asleep.

HP

“Mummy! Da-Daddy!” *sniff*

Lily jerked awake at the feeble cry that pierced her roiling dreams, staring up at her ceiling as her muddling mind tried to catch up to her awakened body. It was only as another sniffle flitted past her consciousness that she realised someone was crying.

Rubbing her eyes, she slowly sat up, wondering why James would be crying, or rather, why he would pretend to be crying. Walking to her door, she cracked it open, peeking through to see what’s going on.

For a long moment, she just stared senselessly at the tearful green eyes under a mop of black hair, before the memories of the previous night flooded her senses. She was about to step out to comfort the small boy, when James stepped out of his room yawning. As soon as Harry caught sight of James, he was up and running over as fast as his short legs could manage. Flailing as Harry crashed into his legs, James grabbed hold of the doorframe before looking down.

“Harry? What’s wrong kiddo?” Kneeling in front of the shuddering time traveller, James pulled Harry away so that he could look at his face, wiping the tear marks away as Harry stuttered.

“I woke up and mu-mummy an’ daddy no-not _thewe_! Hawwy all alone again!” The boy still seemed shaken, so James picked him up with ease and smiled reassuringly.

“Hey kiddo, don’t worry, mummy and daddy just went to sleep a bit. We didn’t leave. Tell you what, next time, I’ll leave my door open a bit as well and if you wake up scared, you can come to me alright?” James lightly flicked Harry’s nose as the boy smiled and giggled, before he turned back towards his room.

“Now, let’s go take a shower before Lil- mummy wakes up. It’s still early and we wouldn’t want to wake her right?” Lily watched in silence as the two males disappeared into James’ room, before quietly retreating back to her own. She couldn’t believe how James acted around Harry, it was completely different as to how he usually acted. Maybe he really did have a caring bone in his body…

She shook her head vigorously to rid her of these thoughts. It was probably a fluke anyway. She knew who James Potter was. He was the one who played cruel and humiliating pranks on unsuspecting victims from all houses. He was the one who strutted around the school like he was Merlin, his minions following behind him faithfully. He was a spoiled, arrogant jackass who wouldn’t take no for an answer. He was the nuisance who played around in class instead of paying attention, yet still did amazing in his tests. He was infuriating!

Stomping to her bathroom, she showered, enjoying the warm water pounding at her tense shoulders and trying to banish the image of a caring James. When she was finished, she pulled out her uniform and dressed, slinging her robes over them. She pulled her hair back in a high ponytail with a few shorter strands framing her face. Grabbing her book bag, she left the room, only to find it abandoned. She’d have thought that James and Harry would be finished by now.

A high-pitched squealing interrupted her and she turned towards Harry’s room, to find the door wide open. Walking closer, she poked her head through, only to stifle a giggle at what she saw.

Harry was naked and running away from James, who was determined to get him dressed in a tiny leather jacket, jeans with tears and dragon-hide boots. The shirt lying on the bed stated “Prankster for Life” and Lily sighed at James’ childishness. She knew it had been a fluke that morning.

“Mummy!” Harry squealed as he saw her and he ran straight at her. Automatically, she scooped him up, but felt slightly uncomfortable holding the naked boy in her arms. She chose to give James a death stare as he smiled innocently, holding the biker clothes behind his back.

“There is no way Harry is wearing that Potter. Where did you even find it? I’m sure Professor Dumbledore wouldn’t provide such clothes for a two year old.” Shrugging sheepishly, he mumbled something about shrinking charms and Lily shook her head exasperatedly. Placing Harry back on his own legs, she went over to the drawers on the left side of the room, opposite the bed. Opening the first drawer, she saw it contained assorted pants, and undershirts.

Considering the chilly November air, she handed Harry some pants with broomsticks on, as well as an undershirt. Closing the first drawer, she opened the second one and saw shirts, vests, jackets, hoodies and jerseys. She chose a plain creamy white long-sleeved shirt, as well as a dark green dragon hoodie, where the hoodie looked like the dragons head. The third drawer contain shorts, jeans and trousers, both formal and informal.

Choosing a pair of thick black trousers, she handed it to Harry as well. The fourth drawer contained various pairs of pyjamas, while the fifth and last drawer contained socks, mittens, beanies, scarves and snow jackets. She saw that there were sneakers, snow boots, slippers and regular boots neatly arranged next to the dresser.

She dug out a pair of white socks, grabbed the sneakers and a dark green, almost black scarf for Harry. She turned around, to find that James was helping Harry fit his arms through the right holes, as the small boy had managed to completely tangle himself up in the hood. When they finally finished, James looked up, only to blanch at the scarf in her hand.

“Now Lily Petal, I didn’t say anything about the hoodie, since it’s… well it’s darn cu… it’s ok, but the scarf is too much. He’s going to be in Gryffindor, so give him a nice red scarf, not this green Slytherin monstrosity! People will start to talk if he’s dressed as an honorary Slytherin!”

“Potter, it’s not Slytherin, it just fits in with the colour scheme. Red will clash entirely. I dressed him in green because the hoodie is cute and it fits with his eyes. If you want, he can wear red tomorrow, but he’s wearing green today!”

Now, Lily wasn’t vain or particularly fashionable, but over the years Alice had trained her in colour coding and what could go together and what not. She at least cared about not looking like Professor Dumbledore. Red and green could look wonderful together, if it was the right shades. And this wasn’t.

“I’m sorry Petal, I have to stand up for what I believe in! I will not allow a son of mine to leave this room without some Gryffindor mark!”

Rolling her eyes, Lily retorted. “He’s not your son yet, in case you forgot, he’s from the future. And stop being so childish about clothes!”

While the two were squabbling, Harry had ambled over to the open drawer that contained his scarves and was digging around. Finding one he liked, he giggled in delight and wrapped it around his neck.

“Mummy! Look, look! Mummy!” Turning around, she saw Harry standing proudly with a bright, golden scarf that had snitches fluttering around on it.

Sighing, she was about to state that he couldn’t wear that, when Harry’s happy eyes had her reconsidering. Instead of immediately shooting it down, she looked at the effect it made on the outfit. The bright golden eyes of the dragon hoodie fit nicely with the scarf and she had to admit it didn’t look bad.

“There Potter, happy with that? It’s gold and not green, so it’s a bit of Gryffindor.”

“I suppose it’ll have to do.” Rolling her eyes once again, she helped Harry pull on his socks and tie his shoes, before taking the already filled bag full of necessities. Taking the green-eyed boy’s hand, she walked off to breakfast.

HP

Arriving at her first class, Transfiguration, she found Professor McGonagall had set up a playpen on one side of the classroom for Harry to play in for the duration of the class. It had a silencing spell on it, though the professor had tweaked it a bit to allow them to hear Harry should he be in distress.

Lily placed the small boy in the cordoned off area, and kneeled down to be on his level, knowing that the rest of the class couldn’t hear her at the moment.

“Harry, you need to listen. M-mummy and Pot-daddy have something very important to do, so we can’t be interrupted unless it’s very important ok? Here are a lot of toys for you to play with, but you can’t leave this area, alright?” Harry nodded, his eyes earnest and started playing with an animated Quidditch set as Lily went back to her seat.

The rest of the lesson passed peacefully, and before she knew it, the morning classes were over. She took Harry to lunch, helping him choose what to eat and ignoring the idiotic faces Potter and Black were pulling for a delighted Harry. She was a bit concerned to see he ate much less than Madam Pomfrey stated he should and decided to go talk to the Mediwitch about it.

For now, she grabbed a banana and halfway through her afternoon classes, handed it to Harry as a snack, which he happily accepted. When Arithmancy finally let out, she picked a sleepy Harry up and went in search of James. She found him outside, returning from his Care of Magical creatures class and unceremoniously handed Harry over.

“I need to go talk to Madam Pomfrey about Harry and you need to look after him while I’m gone. I doubt he would be happy to sit and listen quietly as I don’t know how long this talk could take. Remus, please keep an eye on him, I don’t entirely trust him to keep Harry safe.”

“Wait Evans, we were just about to go flying-”

“Suck it up Black. Potter also has a responsibility towards Harry.” She ignored their protests as she walked away, briskly making her way towards the Hospital Wing. Entering, she waited till Madam Pomfrey finished with the third year student who sported boils, courtesy of a potion gone wrong she supposed.

“Now dear, what can I help you with?”

“Madam Pomfrey, I noticed at lunch that Harry eats very little and wanted to ask you what I should do. I also realised I know next to nothing about two years old, so I don’t know if they need naps or anything like that.”

“Hmmm, well, he has been malnourished, so it is possible that he is physically incapable of eating as much as he should be eating. Forcing him to eat more would do more harm than good, but giving him snacks throughout the day should work out. I think working out a set schedule for him to follow should help.”

The next half an hour was spent working out a routine for Harry, which Madam Pomfrey stated was very important for a toddler. It would give him a sense of security and make it easier to insure he got everything he needed. In the end, it looked like this:

**6pm – Wake up and get ready for the day**

**7am – Breakfast**

**8am – Playtime: Word Games (1 st Period)**

**9am – Playtime: Toys (2 nd Period)**

**10am – Snacktime (3 rd Period)**

**11am – Playtime: Drawing (4 th Period)**

**12pm – Lunch**

**1pm – Nap (5 th Period)**

**2pm – Nap (6 th Period)**

**3pm – Playtime: Creative activities (7 th Period)**

**4pm – Snacktime (Classes end)**

**5pm – Playtime: Lily and James**

**6pm – Dinner**

**7pm – Ready for bed**

**8pm – Sleep**

“Of course, it probably wouldn’t turn out so rigid, but just try to keep to that as close as possible. O yes, and I forgot to give this to you yesterday, but I acquired some diapers for Harry.” Lily looked in confusion to Madam Pomfrey.

“Diapers? Harry doesn’t use those. He tells us when he wants to visit the bathroom.” Madam Pomfrey was visibly surprised, but insisted anyway that Lily should take the nappies, just in case. With the schedule and diapers in hand, Lily exited the Hospital Wing and walked back to her rooms. However, upon entering she found it quiet, and without any sign of James or her charge.

Dropping the items she got from the Mediwitch on the table, she left the room and went to search the Gryffindor Common Room. However, Harry was not there and she started to get a bad feeling. Seeing Alice, she hurried over to her, hoping her friend saw Harry.

“Alice, have you see Harry? Or Potter and his crew?” Her best friend looked confused, but though back for a moment before answering.

“I think I saw them heading towards the Quidditch Pitch. I can’t remember if Harry was with them or not.” Fuming inside, Lily strode out of the Common Room, not even noticing that Alice was following her. She swore that if they left Harry on his own or with someone else while they went flying…

Well, they wouldn’t like the consequences.

Nearing the Quidditch Pitch, she marched over to the still form of Remus and planted her hands on her hips.

“Where is Harry? I believe I asked you to look after him and yet you still came to fly. I don’t see him here, so who did you leave him with?!” Remus’ face looked ashen and instead of answering he pointed upwards. Following his finger, Lily felt her heart stutter to a stop as she saw Harry, two year old Harry, alone on a broom thirty feet in the air, giggling as he flew around and dodged James’ attempts to catch him. Sirius was running around on the pitch beneath Harry, his wand out and frantically trying to keep pace with the playful boy.

She could feel that she was starting to hyperventilate, vaguely aware of Remus’ stammered apologies, but her eyes were glued to the small form high in the air. It was when Harry took a sharp turn to avoid James that what Lily had feared happened. Overbalancing himself slightly, the small boy tipped too far to the right and lost control of his broom. His tiny hands, not yet strong enough to grip tightly enough, slipped from his broom and he started plummeting to the ground. Sirius’ _Arresto Momentum_ missed him by inches and it felt as if the world was slowing down for Lily.

Barely aware of the scream that ripped from her throat, Lily whipped her wand out and cast wildly. The grass beneath Harry ballooned up and when Harry hit, he sunk into it like a soft jumping castle, before bouncing up again. Before he had even completed his first bounce, Lily had started running forward and reached him just as the grass deflated after a last few bounces.

Harry was smiling widely and giggling, but Lily didn’t care as she clutched him close, her arms shaking. She only became aware of the people around her when James spoke up.

“Lily, I swear-”

“YOU ABSELOUT MORONIC BASTARD JAMES POTTER!!! WHAT WERE YOU THNKING!! HE COULD HAVE DIED NOW! He’s TWO, two years old and you let him on a broom?! Are you an idiot!? I _trusted_ you to take care of him and I come back to this? DON’T talk to me right now! You _disgust_ me!”

Without waiting for a reply, she marched back to the castle, a slightly scared and quiet Harry in her arms. Ignoring everything around her, she banged the portrait to the Head Boy and Head Girl’s room open, falling into a chair with Harry still in her arms, her entire body quivering in fright.

It wasn’t until a small hand touched her cheek that she realised she was crying.

“Mummy? Mummy ok?”

“Oh Harry. I was so scared. I thought you would die.” Despite not really understanding, the boy patted Lily’s head. Looking around, his face brightened and he wiggled off, Lily reluctant to let him go, but not really able to hold on tightly as she was still absorbed in her shock. After a moment, he clambered back on and held out a children’s book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Taking it, Lily stared at it blankly. After a moment, Harry gave a big sigh and took the book again, flipping it open to the story of the Three Brothers. Handing the book back to Lily, she looked at the title, before smiling at the hopeful eyes turned onto her, so much like her own. Chuckling, she made herself comfortable as he snuggled down to listen as she started to read.

“There were once three brothers…”

HP

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment, I’m like a puppy on crack when I see my inbox full!! Your comments are my addiction!;) I hope the second chapter lived up to your expectations. Till next time lovelies!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooo! I present to you the next chapter, and also the one where most of the development takes place:) Rereading the first two chapters, I noticed some mistakes and tried to make sure it didn't happen this time, but my fics are usually self-beta'd, though my awesome cousin, RinHunter, beta'd this chapter for me.
> 
> Thank you sooo much for all the kudos and bookmarks, as well as a special Harry-plushie to ElnaK for commenting! This chapter is for you, so I hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter 3**

James warily peeked into the living room, afraid of Lily's wrath should she spy him so soon after what happened with Harry. He relaxed upon seeing her head lolling back as she sat sleeping on the couch, Harry cuddling into her side and a book lying face down on the floor. He slinked inside, not surprised Harry was already asleep, as it was after eight at night and they both had an eventful evening.

Nearing the couch, he crouched down and gently brushed Harry's hair away from his face. Scrunching up his cute little nose, not that James would ever call it that out loud, Harry's eyes fluttered open and he yawned. Rubbing his eyes, he blinked up at James, a sleepy smile adorning his face.

"Daddy." Stretching out his arms, Harry demanded James pick him up and he did so carefully, making sure not to wake Lily. He walked a little ways away, seating himself and Harry in front of the fireplace on a big, fluffy rug. Sitting cross-legged, he snuggled the small boy in his arms, secretly glad for the chance, especially after his scare from this afternoon.

He had always wanted a younger sibling, but with his parents being so old when they had him, chances of that happening were scarce. He and Sirius had visited Sirius' cousin's daughter, who was now around 4 years old and graced with the unfortunate name of Nymphadora, but it wasn't the same as having your own sibling.

He guessed this also wasn't the same, but at least Harry was his by blood.

"Harry, we need to talk about today. You know you gave Li-Mummy a big fright with that stunt you pulled with the broom." Harry hung his head down, his shoulders slumping and as much as James wanted to let everything go, he knew he should be firm to stop this from happening again.

"I told you not to touch the brooms, to sit quietly besides me as we watch Uncle Sirius perform fun tricks, but you deliberately disobeyed my order. You could have gotten badly hurt Harry. Do you understand?"

Sniffling, Harry nodded. "I'm sowwy daddy. I jus' wanted to fly like Siwius." James nodded, cuddling Harry closer. He knew it was partly his fault, since he had left his broom lying next to him and he had briefly forgotten Harry sat next to him as he cheered for his best friend's stunts.

It was as Sirius was landing next to them that Harry had flown off, giggling madly all the while. And while he felt proud in is heart at the expert handling of the broom that Harry had shown -the kid was a natural- he had for a moment thought the world had stopped spinning. He hadn't even realised that he'd grabbed Sirius' broom before he found himself in the air, his heart pounding all the while.

Shaking off his morbid thoughts, he looked down at the lightly dozing Harry and smiled. "Come on squirt, let's get you to bed." Picking up the sleepily protesting toddler, he crossed the room and disappeared into Harry's room.

Back on the couch, Lily sat up with wide eyes, her mind whirring on the misunderstanding from that afternoon. Knowing that James hadn't been entirely negligent in his care for Harry gave her a different perspective and she could feel a small sliver of guilt worm into her heart. Shaking her head, she hurried to her own room, intent on leaving this for tomorrow. Absently, she realised that they hadn't given Harry a bath after his wild flight, but figured he'll probably take one with James in the morning.

HP

"Harry! Get back here! Harry!" James slid around another corner as he tried to keep up with the little rascal running a few meters in front of him. He could hear Sirius, Remus and Peter panting behind him and he knew he himself was starting to slow down in exhaustion. He has no idea how a two year old boy can be so fast, but they've been chasing him for the last forty minutes.

However, he knew if Lily caught them running about the castle after a very much naked and soapy Harry, she would explode like an erumpent horn. Of course, Harry just had to take offence at the bath James had placed him in and decided that exploring the castle in his birthday suit would be much more fun.

It's been a week and a half since the flying incident and James didn't want to test Lily's strangely forgiving mood she's been in since the morning after the accident. Glancing around, he saw they were in the less travelled part of the castle, already having dodged through the crowded hallways with students' laughter chasing them.

Making eye contact with Sirius, he nodded and returned the wicked grin Sirius suddenly sported. In a moment, a great black dog ran where his friend previously was and quickly pulled ahead, catching up to the small body in front of them. Passing the giggling boy by, he turned around and blocked the path, ready to ensure Harry didn't slip by, but it was unnecessary.

As soon as Harry spied the great shaggy grim-like dog, he had stopped dead, scrutinising Sirius closely. James winced, hoping that Harry would be afraid or, merlin forbid, start crying, but once again, Harry did the unexpected.

A wide grin split the toddler's face and he ran forward excitedly, throwing his arms around the huge dog, all the while shrieking happily while his body wiggled in excitement.

"Padfoot! Padfootpadfootpadfoot!"

James's mouth dropped open and it was almost comical to see Sirius do the same. Since they had met Harry, he had stubbornly refused to come near Sirius, apart from when Sirius accompanied James. He had rebuffed the teen at every chance he got and even changed his hair bright pink and his robes Slytherin green on one memorable occasion when Sirius tried to pick him up.

Now the child was laughing and hugging, or more like smothering, Sirius. Changing back into his human form, Sirius looked down at the happy toddler, only for Harry to back away uncertainly when he saw who he was hugging.

"Padfoot?" Smiling, Sirius changed into his animagus form again, before changing back. After staring deeply into his eyes, Harry seemed to accept he was Padfoot and held up his arms, demanding to be picked up. Smiling goofily, Sirius did just that and the entire way back to James' rooms was filled with Sirius crowing smugly and Harry giggling all the way.

However, as they rounded the corner to reach the portrait, they all cringed when they saw Lily planted in front of it, her arms crossed and her eyes shooting lightning. Chuckling nervously, Sirius handed Harry to James, whose eye was twitching in worry as he smiled innocently.

Her eyes raking over the motley group, pausing on the naked Harry whose skin was turning pink, she sighed, before smiling ruefully.

"You better get him into the bath before he catches a cold." Happy to see that her strangely forgiving mood seemed to last, James hurried past her while waving goodbye to his friends and headed straight for the bathroom. Heating up the already cool water, he checked it and placed Harry back in the tub.

The sound of footsteps behind him had him tensing, sure Lily was going to rant at him now, but instead she just perched on the rim of the bath and started gently washing Harry's tangled hair. The boy in question was happily playing with his animate merperson and shark, creating an epic battle for possession of the soap bubbles in the tub.

It was with great sadness that the story progressed with the shark gobbling up the merperson, but not before the merperson had managed to stab a fatal blow to the shark, leaving Harry the proud owner of all the bubbles, which he made sure both Lily and James knew.

Glancing up, James was transfixed by the gentle smile on Lily's face, the love shining in her eyes. He wasn't sure if she knew, since she continued to vehemently deny that Harry could be her child, since it meant she would marry James, but now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard her say that in a while.

"Come on Harry. Time to get out of the tub. If you're a good boy and dress quickly and brush your teeth, I might even read you a story about the Lonely Dragon." Harry jumped up excitedly at Lily's words, babbling happily as James stood. James picked up a large fluffy towel that was slightly heated and wrapped a squirming Harry in it. He took him to the sink, helping him brush his teeth and by the time they reached the bedroom, Lily had already laid out his pyjamas.

Dressing him and tucking him into bed, James sat at the foot of the bed as he listened to Lily reading Harry the story about the Lonely Dragon who left his mountain and gold in search of friends. Her melodious voice lilted and dipped as she did the different voices for the characters and James found himself just as absorbed in the story as Harry was.

When Lily broke off, James was almost disappointed to see Harry was asleep, before quickly standing up as Lily tapped the phoenix to start glowing lightly and singing its lullaby. Stretching as he walked out of Harry's room, James was surprised to hear Lily shuffling behind him and nervously clearing her throat instead of immediately heading towards her room.

"Po-Potter, I was thinking… That incident with the broom was heart attack-inducing, but I'm not blind to how good Harry was on a broom. I thought… well… maybe if we get him a kiddies broom, one that could only go about a foot and a half off the floor… Do you… do you think that would be alright?"

James blinked, rubbed his eyes and blinked again. Lily was still standing in front of him, wringing her hands and flicking her eyes sideways. Slowly, a grin grew on his face before he tried to smother it, trying to sound mature.

'Um… yeah, yeah I think that would be alright. I… I'm sure Harry will enjoy that." Lily nodded jerkily, her cheeks lightly rose-dusted, before she turned and marched to her room. James couldn't help the smile that rose unbidden on his own face.

He would order the broom in the morning.

And that was how it ended up that a week later, Lily and Alice, joined by Remus and Peter, sat on the couch, laughing as tears streamed down their faces, with James and Sirius chasing after a manically laughing Harry, who made it his mission to knock down anything that can be knocked down as he tested out his new broom in their rooms.

Alice was snapping photos, as she had been doing the last week, while Remus was cheering Harry on and Lily was too much of a giggling mess to do much but berate James for his cursing ever now and then.

Zigzagging across the floor, Harry seemed to think this was a great game and it was a further hour before James had managed to catch him. Lifting the screeching child in his arms, James threw him into the air and caught him, tickling him mercilessly.

Lily felt something in her chest warm and thump as she watched James place his mouth against a squirming Harry's tummy and blow a raspberry, to the delight of the squealing child.

"DADDY! Daddy n-no!..!..Dad-daddy no! Mu-mummy!... He-help mum-mummy!" Laughing as Harry shrieked between laughter, Lily jumped up and swiped the happy toddler from James arms, warding James off while proclaiming that she'll protect her baby from the big, bad monster.

Harry's laughter increased as James started chasing Lily and the bundle in her arms, proclaiming that he will feed them to the Giant Squid if he caught them, while Lily ran away, yelling in mock fear all the while.

When James finally caught them, the three of them collapsed on the fluffy rug near the happily cackling fireplace and Harry squealed as James pretended to eat him.

And so the night continued, full of laughter and friendship, a night that will have brought these two groups closer than anything before has.

HP

_Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!_

Lily jerked upright as she sleepily looked around, for a moment uncertain what had woken her. Another scream ripping through the air had her vaulting out of her bed, almost running into James as they both barrelled their way out of their rooms. Feeling James hold her shoulders to steady them both from their near brush with the floor, they heard one last cream, emanating from Harry's room, before it was cut off abruptly.

Looking at each other in concern, they pushed Harry's door open and the light flickered on with a flick of Lily's wand. Harry's bed was empty, but before she could start to panic, they both heard a sniffling and sobbing coming from the corner and walking closer, they found Harry wedged between his dresser and the wall, his face blotchy and his eyes scared.

As soon as he saw them, he shot out from his hiding place and latched onto Lily, who held him close as James rubbed his back in concern. Hearing the door to their rooms open, they shared a look and walked out of Harry's room to see Dumbledore standing in the living room.

"Headmaster? Can we help you?"

"Ah yes. I'm afraid my wards went off when young Harry here became distressed and came to see what the problem is." The headmaster's eyes were serious and it made James and Lily worry even more.

"Um, we're not sure sir. Harry was screaming. I think he may have had a nightmare, but it sounded a lot worse than that." Dumbledore seemed to think a while, before he gestured to the couches. Sitting down, Lily felt strangely reassured when James sat down next to her, but didn't have time to wonder over this feeling, as Dumbledore began to speak again.

"I do have a theory about that, but if you would indulge me for a moment, I wish to check something. It would require young Harry here to look into my eyes." Lily tensed as she saw James blanch, not sure what could warrant that expression from the usually mischievous teen.

"Professor? Are planning to use Legilimency on Harry? Sir, he's two years old!" Dumbledore sighed, looking older than Lily had seen him so far.

"I know, my boy. However, I have a suspicion that I wish to verify. I promise it will cause Harry no harm, I will be very gentle." James still seemed uncertain, but made no objection when Dumbledore crouched before Lily. Harry, who had calmed down a bit, his small body only shuddering occasionally, peeked out from where he had hidden his face, before he was seemingly caught in Dumbledore's gaze.

For long minutes the headmaster and toddler sat like that, staring at each other, before Dumbledore blinked and shifted away as Harry hid his face once again. When Lily looked at the headmaster's face, it seemed old and yet filled with hope, all at the same time.

The old man seemed absorbed in his thoughts, content to let the silence stretch, but James was not that patient.

"Sir? Could you tell us what your theory was and if it was right?" Dumbledore seemed to snap out of his musings, his eyes twinkling once again as he made himself comfortable on the plush pink armchair he had conjured.

"Of course James. Let me start with when we tested Harry's health. What our excellent Mediwitch had neglected to tell you, was that there were traces of an unknown potion found in Harry's body. It didn't seem to be causing any damage, so it wasn't deemed as very important.

"However, when I examined the robe Harry arrived in, in greater detail, I found that the amount of traces the time sands left was a lot more than would usually be used to go back about four years in the past. Furthermore, upon closer examination, I found a name tag for the person to whom the robe belonged. Can you guess who that person is?"

James and Lily stayed quiet, though a nasty suspicion was starting to rise within her. After seeing that the two weren't going to answer, Dumbledore explained further.

"The name was Harry James Potter. Of course, when I heard that, I examined the remains of the potion Madam Pomfrey managed to get closer and determined that it contained phoenix ash, as well as fairy wings and newt tongue, all of which, when put together, form essential ingredients for a de-aging potion. Based on the amount of time sand used and the robe's size, I determine Harry had travelled back in time closer to twenty years and would put him around seventeen or eighteen years old. He's just under the effects of a de-aging potion now."

Lily felt something like lead settle in her stomach as her suspicion was confirmed. The giggling two year old she had known for close to three weeks now was actually already a man. She could hear James make a strangled sound next to her and she automatically held the boy in her arms closer.

"Wha-what does that mean for Harry?" Dumbledore sighed again.

"From what I could gather, Harry is experiencing nightmares due to the gradual return of his memories. When I looked at his memories, there was also the memory of a young blond woman telling him of a chamber in the Ministry of Magic that contained the time turners. So far, I hadn't thought about that chamber, though I knew about it, but now I'm sure we'll be able to get Harry to his proper age and back to his own time within little less than a month. He will be home right in time for Christmas"

Seeing that the young couple were a bit shell-shocked, Dumbledore quietly took his leave and left them to their thought.

"Mummy…?" Lily started and looked down at the brilliant green eyes that peeked up at her. His small hands were still clutching her pyjamas tightly and she could feel his entire body shivering.

"Yes Harry? Are you alright? Did you have a bad dream?" The boy nodded slightly, his bottom lip quivering as he held on tighter. She could see tears welling up in his eyes and automatically held him closer, feeling more than seeing him relax a bit as James rubbed his back.

"Harry, you do know that whatever you dream about can't hurt you right? It's just a dream."

"Angwy… Always angwy. They have scary eyes… Th-they say I k-ki-killed them… Mummy, Daddy, I don't wanna see them… It makes my chest huwt…" Lily could feel her own eyes tear up as she listened to the heart-broken sobs coming from that small body. She blinked when she felt James get up and saw him kneeling in front of Harry, gently tilting his face up. When those verdant eyes met his hazelnut orbs, he smiled gently.

"Harry, you never have to be afraid. Both your mummy and I will always be there for you. We love you no matter what. No matter what happens, no matter what you experience or what anyone tells you, we will always look after you, even when it doesn't seem so."

Smiling shyly at James, the last of the tension lining Harry's body seemed to fade away and the young time traveller drifted off to sleep. But Lily couldn't help but repeat his words in her mind and she could feel an unfamiliar fear well up in her. She turned to James, her sorrow and worry reflected in James' eyes.

"James… Why would Harry be having nightmares just because his memories are returning? What could be so bad as to cause him to scream like that?" James seemed sick as he thought and Lily's heart contracted, so worried she hadn't even realised she called her arch-nemesis by his given name. James shook his head as he regarded the sleeping boy.

"I don't know Lily. We would protect him from everything. I know I would make sure he would never experience anything that could make him scream like that…"

"…Unless… we aren't there to protect him… He- he talked about an aunt. An aunt who told him his house went boom. Could that…?" James pursed his lips and shook his head, not willing to consider what that would mean and Lily bent over Harry, silent tears tracking over her cheeks.

When James placed his arms around her, she gratefully leaned into him, needing the support even though she would deny having done so the next morning.

They sat that way for the rest of the night, staring into the flickering fire.

HP

James and Lily had decided to make sure Harry's last two weeks was filled with as much fun and memories as they could manage. Alice took even more photos and the two girls found out about the Marauders' animagus forms, though they already knew about Remus' werewolf status due to Lily figuring it out in their third year. Epic snowball fights, pranks, Quidditch and various other games filled their evenings, with James and Lily spending every available moment with Harry.

After the third night where Harry had nightmares and cuddled in with one of them in bed, they decided to make one large christmas-bed in the living room, with Alice, Sirius, Remus and Peter joined them. Pillow fights were common and Harry's infectious giggling filled the room frequently. Snuggled up with both his parents on either sides, Harry's nightmares started to wane, until he no longer had them, but that didn't stop Lily and James from sleeping in the christmas-bed with him.

Today the snow was falling gently outside and Lily had decided to take Harry outside while James and Sirius were forced by Remus to finish some homework due the next day. Helping Harry pull on his thick snow boots and buttoning his warm snow jacket, she wound a scarf around his neck and pulled a beanie over his wild hair. Making sure he had his mittens on, she hefted him onto her hip and walked out their rooms, grabbing her own jacket along the way.

Harry was babbling about snowmen and angels and she smiled and nodded along, both chattering gaily. Reaching the Entrance Hall, she set her future son on his own feet and watched as he excitedly ran outside, following behind him at a much more leisure pace while making sure to keep him in sight. She started to speed up when she saw him fall over a hidden rock and crash face first in the snow, but her worry was for nothing as he laughed and rolled around in the snow.

He seemed immune to the cold and she grinned as he made a snow angel, pulling her hand to show her the finished product. At his behest, she made one of her own next to his considerably smaller one.

"There! Now the baby angel has a mummy to play with." Laughing at his adorable comment, she scooped him up and, to his joy, peppered his face with butterfly kisses. Putting him down, she could feel her heart warming as the small boy, almost drowning and looking like a beach ball in his thick snow jacket, ran around kicking up snow and trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue. She couldn't believe the amount of love she felt for him and it made her dread the day he had to go back to his own time, since she was pretty sure she wasn't in it.

"Mummy, look! What is that?" The thrilled voice of the two year old pierced her melancholy thoughts and she looked to where his tiny hand was pointing, only to smile in delight.

There, not too far above Harry's head, were a few dozen fairies dancing on the snowflakes. At least, it looked like they were dancing, but it might have been some game they were playing, since she could see they weren't using their wings, but rather jumping from snowflake to snowflake.

Bending down, she crouched next to Harry, who was just as mesmerised. Fishing out the camera, she took several pictures of the fairies, as well as Harry's happy little face and even managed to get a shot of one fairy landing on Harry's nose after tumbling off a snowflake. The fairy, no bigger than Lily's thumb nail, smiled prettily and patted Harry's nose, before she jumped off onto a passing snowflake and quickly made her way upwards to her brethren.

Harry was so excited that he was laughing and hopping around, his entire body jiggling in delight. Lily laughed and scooped him up, cuddling the small boy tightly, before putting him down and starting to build a snowman.

The rest of the afternoon passed and when Harry started to look quite pink-cheeked from the cold and started lagging, they made their way up the rooms where the rest of their group were waiting with hot-chocolate.

HP

Due to Harry leaving before Christmas, James figured they could have their own little Christmas night, to which the rest of the group immediately agreed. So it turned out that the night before Harry was scheduled to be aged and returned to his time, the marauders and two girls all met one last time in the living room of the Head Boy and Head Girl's room to exchange presents.

The entire day, which happened to be a Saturday, was filled with Christmas carols and laughter as they decorated the room, rigged up a modest Christmas tree and generally spent it with Harry.

That night, Lily lighted the fireplace and dimmed the lights, before letting the two-dozen or so fairies out of their jars to fly around in the room. Bluebell flames were stationed in jars throughout the room, creating more than enough light to see by while still creating a cosy atmosphere.

Harry was beside himself with excitement, running around here and there and demanding to know when he could open the presents. When everyone finally gathered around the Christmas tree, he wasted no time in grabbing the first present and running to his mum, asking her to whom he should give it.

"That's Remus' present Harry." Lily pointed towards the werewolf and Harry handed him the present, before picking up the next one and taking it to James this time. And so it continued, with Harry stacking all his presents carefully in a pile and leaving them till he handed everyone else's theirs.

When he finally sat down, he proceeded to tear with wild abandon into his pile, giggling as he tore the brightly coloured paper and chucked it all around. Lily giggled as she opened her own gift. Since it wasn't actually Christmas yet and they didn't usually give each other gifts, the two groups had decided to do a Secret Santa this time and try to guess from who the present came from.

Lily had to get James something and she was trying very hard not to glance at him out of the corner of her eye as she balled the paper up and studied her own gift. Her breath seemed to catch in her throat as she held the item she had received up.

It was a delicate lily necklace, yellow in the centre and becoming steadily darker yellow-orange as it neared the tips. The petals looked as if someone had taken a paintbrush and painted a deep purple-red stoke from centre to tip on them. It was a far cry from the usual white lily-items she had gotten over the years, standing out above similar gifts. As she brought it closer to see the exquisite detail better, the faint smell of lilies drifted to her and she realised the necklace was charmed. Trailing one finger over the beautiful petals, she was startled and awed to see the petals start to close.

She looked up, to find James watching her, but he hurriedly looked away when she caught his eye. She smiled slightly to herself as she clipped the necklace on.

"Ok, I'm guessing my present is from Peter." Sirius declared and the mousy-looking boy raised his hand sheepishly. "Caught."

"Thanks for the sweets Wormtail, it's not every day I get sweets in the shapes of bones." There was a slight, very subtle hint of sarcasm in Sirius' voice, but Peter didn't seem to realise, as he swelled with pride.

"Alright, Peter, you're next!"

"Uuum… James?" James grinned and shook his head and Peter thought for a while, scrutinizing the cockroach Clusters and various prank items.

"Uuuhm, Remus?... Alice?" Alice nodded and Peter thanked her, already sucking on one of the cockroach clusters, which happened to be his favourite sweet. Alice was up next and she immediately guessed right.

"Remus. Because only you or Lily will give me books on Herbology, my favourite subject, since I don't think the others know."

"Guilty." The shabby teen raised his hand, smiling, before he pinned Sirius with a gaze.

"I don't think your gift is particularly funny Padfoot."

"Aw, how'd you know it was me? It's supposed to be secret santa!"

"No one else is stupid enough to give me a calendar where, instead of showing the cycle of the moon, it shows a werewolf becoming cranky on a half-moon and changing fully on the full moon."

Lily rolled her eyes as she looked at James again, now knowing for certain that they had been each other's secret santa. She was even more nervous about how he would like his gift.

"So James, what did your sweetheart get you?" Glaring half-heartedly at Sirius as her cheeks filled with blood, she turned to see James' reaction.

In James' hand was a snow globe with a magnificent stag in the middle. Snowflakes were charmed to fall never-endingly and the stag looked around before stamping its hoof. Pawing with its front hoof at the snow covered ground, it cleared a piece of snow and in that space, a lily sprouted. James was quiet as he watched it and Lily feared she's gone too far, especially since she was still uncertain of her feelings for the young man.

However, James smiled gently, saying he loved it and she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks and chest as he stared into her eyes. She was almost grateful for Harry's happy squeal breaking the intense moment between them and happily turned her attention the bouncing boy in front of her.

"Mummy, look look! I got a book! And a glass ball!" Lily grinned at the young toddler's happy face, knowing he wouldn't understand the very precious meaning of those items till he was his proper age.

"They're beautiful Harry. What else did you get?" The boy happily showed off his set of huge plushies, that ranged from a stag, a black dog, a wolf, a rat, a lily and a potted plant for Alice, along with a auror plushie, which Alice said was supposed to represent her long-time boyfriend, Frank Longbottom, who was training to be an auror now. He also got an old pocket watch from James, which apparently belonged to his father and his father's father and so on, which was engraved with the Potter family crest.

Alice had gifted him the book, which was actually a photo album and Sirius, Remus and Peter had all chipped in on the plushies and all of them were charmed to feel like you were hugging the person the plushie represented. At the moment, Harry was doing his very best to hug all seven of the large plushies at once, and Lily laughed and showed him where to tap them with your finger to shrink them to more manageable sizes.

As it was starting to get late, them all having played with Harry for two hours, they diligently packed his gifts away in the bag he would take back with him to the future and said goodnight. Harry once again settled between his parents, his smile staying bright even in sleep.

Long after the others fell asleep, Lily and James were still awake, watching the small boy in their arms and wondering what the future held.

HP

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, what did you guys think? I am REALLY excited to hear your thoughts on this chapter, as it's probably my favorite chapter and I really enjoyed it when writing it! I hope you guys enjoyed reading it and that little-Harry was to your liking:) Also, what did you think about Lily and James' development? Too fast, too slow, not good enough, amazing? I'm looking forward to comments! ;D


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone, I just want to say THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH for reading Lily’s Prongslet!! You guys have been wonderful and all the KUDOS and bookmarks made me tear up:’) Thank you especially to the amazing people who commented: brittany Levine; ElnaK; mccunning; chesirekittin909 and ShadowsWithoutHope!
> 
> This is the last chapter and I hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter 4**

“You all ready? You have all of Harry’s belongings?” Lily nodded, not trusting her voice to speak and watched apprehensively as Professor Slughorn handed James a vial of golden potion. She turned to Harry, who was watching the proceedings wide-eyed and gently sat him down on the bed, before kneeling in front of him.

“Harry, I need you to drink this juice. It might not taste very well, but it’s very important, alright?” Harry, confused but willing, nodded and took the vial from James. Taking his first sip, he almost threw it away before Lily grabbed the vial.

“Harry, please, I know it doesn’t taste nice, but it’s very important. I’ll give you some nice pumpkin juice if you drink everything, what about that?” Looking more reluctant, Harry screw his eyes tightly shut, before quickly swallowing everything. He gagged as he finished it and Lily quickly handed him a glass of pumpkin juice, which he drank equally fast. As the boy was still sitting and pulling disgusted faces, Lily saw that he was beginning to grow, his expression becoming confused as he shot up. Luckily, they had dressed in in self-sizing clothes, so it grew with him and before long, a young man sat before them, blinking owlishly.

“Wha- Luna? What happened? Where is my glasses? Ron I swear I’ll bloody-!” A chuckle from Dumbledore had Harry pausing, squinting in the headmaster’s direction.

“Pro-professor!?” Taking his glasses from Madam Pomfrey, he placed them on his face and glanced around again, certain he had hallucinated the Headmaster’s voice. His breath left him in a whoosh as he saw not only the deceased headmaster, but also his parents, Sirius and Remus standing around him. Feeling his throat close up, he stared at them, wide-eyed, knowing if this was a dream he wouldn’t want to wake up.

“I know this must be disorientating Mr Potter, so allow me to explain. By some accident or other, you have travelled back in time to the year 1978. When you arrived here, you were de-aged to your two year old self. It has been six weeks since then, meaning about two weeks before Christmas and we have finally created the potion to re-age you and send you back to your time.

As the headmaster talked, Harry started getting flashbacks of his time as a two year old and his cheeks reddened as he regained all his memories of the past six weeks. However, another realisation soon overwhelmed his embarrassment of his terrible two’s.

His parents were here. Sirius and Remus were here. Hell, even Neville’s mom and that traitor of a rat was here. He was so tempted to tell them everything, to change the future irrevocably, but he knew he couldn’t do that. Yes, he suffered in the future, but it ultimately lead to Voldemort’s temporary and final defeat. He couldn’t risk messing that up now. However, he wished he could spend some time with his parents as he was now, instead of just his two year old self.

Peeking through his fringe, he saw his mother watching him closely and he gave her a watery smile, realising that she was here in the flesh. He could hug her. He had hugged her in the past six weeks. Seeing Harry, her little Harry, with that same shy, yet bright smile on his face even though he was all grown up now, caused Lily to rush forward and throw her arms around him. He hugged her back tightly, not even caring that he was crying and soon his father sat down next to him, embracing them both.

“Ahem. I find that I have misplaced the specialised time-turner young mister Potter must use to return home. While I look for it, why don’t you young people go enjoy the wonderful weather we were graced with on this fine Sunday. I’m sure I’ll have found it before you go to dinner.”

Harry smiled up at the twinkle-eyed headmaster and was soon towed out of the hospital wing.

HP

“Sooo, being a natural on a broom, you _must_ play Quidditch. Which position?” Harry grinned smugly at Sirius, once again proud to tell him, with the added bonus of his parents’ listening.

“I play seeker, and I am the youngest player in a century.” Sirius looked at him in confusion, and it was James who spoke next, awe-lacing his words.

‘Wait, that meant you were made seeker in your-“

“-First year. Yep. By Professor McGonagall no less.” Sirius let out a sound that suspiciously sounded like a yelp and Harry laughed as his father and godfather gushed over how amazing that was. He glanced at his mother, smiling and rolling his eyes good-naturedly with her.

“Well then, it is imperative that we see a demonstration of your skills!”

Before he knew it, he was handed a state of the art broomstick, which was still leaps and bound behind his own Firebolt, and soon he was in the sky, diving, twisting and rolling through the air, whooping all the while. As soon as he was sure that he was used to the way the older broom accelerated, decelerated, turned and so forth, he shot up till he hovered about 150 feet above the ground, looking down on the small people.

Seeing that he had their attention, he turned the broom’s nose downwards and allowed himself to fall. Faster and faster he went, with the ground coming closer and closer. Knowing he had to pull up earlier than he would have had to on his Firebolt, he turned up about a meter away from the grass.

However, the broom capabilities being so much worse than he was used to, it still meant that he ended about a foot above the grass, his feet gently skimming it. He could hear Sirius cheering, with James whooping and he let out a whoop of his own as he angled back to them and landed.

‘What was that? Was it the famous Wronski Feint? That was brilliant! For a moment, I was sure that you would crash!” Chuckling at Sirius and James’ excited babbling, he explained the move.

“Yeah, it’s the Wronski Feint. If I had my Firebolt, I could’ve continued till I was about a foot from the ground before pulling up.”

“A foot?! Bloody he-“

“HARRY JAMES POTTER! If you EVER scare me like that again, I will-“

“Now now Lily, calm down, Harry knew what he was doing.” Harry didn’t know whether to cower or laugh as he watched his mum flounder after having her tirade interrupted so smoothly. He settled for smiling at her innocently, though that only caused her eyes to narrow.

“I’ll let it go for now. But don’t think I will forget this!” Laughing, Harry followed his parents back to the lake, chattering excitedly with them all the while.

Sitting down on the picnic blanket, he leaned back and smiled as he watched his father and Sirius rolling around as they wrestled furiously, with everyone else rolling their eyes. Christmas holidays had already started, so the school was mostly abandoned except for the odd student. It made sitting down by the lake much easier, as there weren’t many people around who could hear something they shouldn’t.

His breath suddenly left him as Sirius tackled him and he laughed as he joined in on the wrestling, trying to pin Sirius down, though it was quite difficult with his slim build. He was vastly outnumbered as James joined in and it wasn’t long before he wiggled loose and went to hide behind his mother, his cheeks red as his eyes sparkled happily.

Luckily, James and Sirius seemed to decide that Lily and her glare was out of their league and the tried to pin Remus down next, who was more of a challenge with his werewolf strength.

“They seem so young like this, not at all like legal adults.” Lily huffed a laugh at Alice’s words, joined by Harry who had settled down next to them while biting into a sandwich.

“They are children, completely immature, the lot of them.” Lily turned away, her tone irritated and Harry couldn’t help but worry a bit. He bit his lip, wondering if he should say anything, but finally decided to screw it and speak his mind.

“I… I don’t think that means they’re incapable of being mature. Sometimes… sometimes it’s just easier to be a child for a while, to leave behind the troubles of the world. I should know. I know they can sometimes take their pranks too far and sometimes not think things through and can even be a bit cruel… but beneath all that, I really do think they really care a lot. I mean, someone who is cruel and likes to hurt people isn’t the type of person who befriend a werewolf and even becomes an animagus for them…”

Lily was staring at Harry in surprise, seeing the proud glint in his eyes as he regarded the playful men. Turning to look at them, she remembered all the times James spent with Harry, the gentle hands and caring smile. She hadn’t realised it, but she had seen that smile he gave Harry before. It was usually directed at her when she wasn’t looking. At first, she thought it was the same as his other smiles, but now she could see the imperceptible softening in his eyes, the small tilt of his lips that erased any arrogance from it.

“Yeah… I’m sure you’re right…” Glancing at his mum, Harry saw the tiny upwards tilt on her lips and smiled himself. Looks like his mother really had fallen in love with his father in their seventh year.

It was a tired but happy group that trudged back into the hospital wing that night. They had spent the rest of the afternoon playing various wizarding games, joking and laughing as they spent time together. Harry got to know more than he ever did before about his parents and it filled a hole he didn’t know still ached.

Knowing that his mother was highly academic and fiery, yet very kind, because he heard it from someone else was different from seeing it for himself. Actually hearing the way his dad’s laughter caused those around him to laugh was much better than hearing about it. It was a bit odd seeing them all his age, but he didn’t let it bother him too much.

Making sure to talk to both his parents, Sirius and Remus and Alice, while trying not to exclude Peter, the evening had rushed past and before he knew it, it was time to go. Hence he was standing in front of Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, his parents and their friends, holding the large, strange time-turner.

He smiled at them as he slung the bag filled with stuff that had been gifted to him, once again wearing his school robes.

“I guess this is goodbye. It was great being here.” Lily smiled, before rushing forward and throwing her arms around him. Holding his mother tightly, he revelled in being able to hug her, feeling her comforting warmth surrounding him. Not being able to help himself, he whispered softly.

“I’m sorry…” However, his mother just held him tighter and just as softly, whispered back to him.

“It’s alright. We love you.”

After she released him, he got a hug from his father as well and he could feel tears trying to escape, but he ruthlessly pushed them down. Getting a strange hug crossed with a back slap from Sirius he turned to give a hug to Remus and Alice as well. He tried not to grimace as Peter hugged him, but was definitely glad when it was over.

Returning back to his spot in front of Dumbledore, he shook he man’s hand, squeezing it a bit tighter than normal as his feelings threatened to overwhelm him and he could see the understanding and forgiving glint in the headmaster’s eyes. After shaking hands with Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey as well, he started to turn the dial on the hourglass in the opposite way twenty times. Light started to twist around him like ropes, swallowing him up and just before he disappeared, he cheekily stated, while trying to hide his tears,

“See you guys in the future!”

Lily watched as her son disappeared in a flash of light, a slight smile on her lips. She glanced at James, not sure now how things were going to turn out without Harry here, if he was going to revert to his childish self or not. But as she fingered the necklace she got from the man next to her, a secret smile played on her lips.

She was sure everything would be just fine.

HP

“HARRY!!” Harry blinked as the first thing he saw when he returned from his trip in the past was Hermione Granger’s bushy hair in his face and probably his mouth. Hugging one of his best friends, he revelled in being back in his own time, even if he was sad to say goodbye to his parents.

“Mate! You’re back! Don’t know what that Loony was thinking, but I’m glad you’re alright!” Harry laughed as he disentangled from Hermione, clapping Ron on the back and a wide smile on his face.

“Harry. You… You look happy. What happened in your trip to the past? When did you go?” Settling himself on a couch in the deserted Common Room, deciding that letting Professor McGonagall know of his return can wait, Harry began.

“Well, it turns out that potion de-ages a person…”

HP

The next two days were packed with people wanting to make sure he was alright and unhurt, ranging from the students to the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt himself. Harry smiled and nodded and it was soon that people started noticing the new happy aura the Boy Who Lived carried around with him.

Harry was also happy to note that his return to his time didn’t trigger his nightmares again, though he would never admit that if he felt uneasy in the night, he would just hug the stag and lily plushies and revel in the feeling of his parents embracing him. When he had tracked Neville down after he returned and handed the boy the potted plant and auror plushie, the brave young man had almost cried when he heard what it was supposed to simulate.

Sure, his parents were still alive, even if they were insane, but feeling them hug him, feeling surrounded in their love was something he appreciated very much. Pettigrew’s plushie was given to Crookshanks to chew on, who enjoyed tearing it up and carrying it around very much. The other four plushies were reverently placed on his nightstand.

The day after he returned, Harry managed to track Luna down.

“Luna! Luna wait up!” The dreamy girl turned towards him, smiling slightly.

“Yes Harry? Did you get rid of the Babbling Bezonks?” Smiling widely, Harry nodded.

“Yeah, I got to meet my parents, even if I was two most of the time. It was great and really helped me. I wanted to say thank you Luna. If not for you, this never would have happened. I am curious though. Where did you get the time sand?”

Luna seemed to stare through him and her expression became confused yet gentle.

“Whatever for Harry? It was the Gozzlegaps who told me what to do, not something I do myself. They really are quite knowledgeable you know. They seem to know things before it happens. If you really want to thank someone, thank them and the Timely Trupnuffle who dedicated its ashes for you. They’re quite kind creatures, if a bit mischievous. I hope you enjoy your day Harry. It’s good the Babbling Bezonks left you. Good bye.”

Harry watched as Luna skipped off, more than a bit confused, but that was Luna. Always generated more questions than answers, but then, she wouldn’t be Luna if she didn’t. Smiling, Harry turned away and made his way back to his two best friends.

It was a week and a half after he returned and five days before Christmas that he gained the courage to open the book he had gotten from Alice, which had been engraved with his name. On the very first page, there was a picture of his two year old self, grinning toothily up at the camera, but looking away at something out of the frame.

Slowly turning the pages, he soaked up the loving memories captured there. Animated photo after photo of him, his parents and their friends filled the book and he laughed over quite a few of them. There was one with him glaring at Sirius, who pouted with pink hair and green robes, while James laughed uproariously and Lily just smirked.

Another showed his father and him covered in paint that literally sparkled as they were being chewed out by Lily. A favourite of his was one where he was sitting astride Prongs, his mother standing beside him and keeping her hand on his back as they smiled at the camera.

There were over fifty photos, all showing him having a great time with his family. At the last page, an envelope was placed and when he opened it, it was to find photos of the day he spent with his parents when he was eighteen again. He didn’t even know how Alice got them developed so quickly and couldn’t ask now.

One of them he was determined to frame, since it was a photo with him in the middle and his parents on either side, all three grinning up at the camera as his father ruffled his hair and his mother kissed his cheek. There was another group photo that he also loved, though it was slightly spoiled by Pettigrew and he resolved to find a way to remove him as soon as possible.

Making sure the pocket watch he received from his dad was in a small chest Hermione had given him to keep it in when he slept, he placed the album on his bedside table. Next, he pulled out the glass globe, which resembled a crystal ball and turned it over and over in his hands. He wasn’t sure what it did and he didn’t want to break it in case it didn’t work like a prophesy ball.

Leaning back on his bed, he rolled the ball between his hands, staring at it intently, before he decided to leave it for tomorrow and ask Hermione if she knew what it was.

HP

Harry basked in the sunlight, enjoying the warm rays on his face in the midst of this snowy landscape. It was Christmas Eve and even though just about two weeks had gone by, it felt like his trip to the past was a dream. He knew the Gryffindors were planning a party tomorrow, but for now he wanted to be alone, just to reminiscence about his parents.

Hermione had not been able to find any mention so far about the glass orb, but Harry was certain it had to mean something more than a mere bauble. He knew his mom wouldn’t give him something just for decorative purposes. Leaning back, Harry closed his eyes and enjoyed the sun, ignoring the cold seeping in from below.

“Harry! I found it! I found the glass orb!” As Hermione’s word registered in his mind, Harry shot up and looked around, hope flitting through his heart. “I found what the orb is used for!”

Hermione plopped down next to him, out of breath and Harry waited for her to recover, twitching impatiently. Finally, she sat back and dragged a large book from her bookbag, flipping to the correct page as she talked.

“I was such an idiot, it’s really my own fault that I didn’t find it sooner. I thought that I knew most of the modern inventions in the last 10 years or so and so didn’t think to search there. I’ve been looking at inventions and crystal balls used about two decades ago, when your parents were at school and so completely missed it. You’re mother really is a brilliant witch you know, she was too early for her time, this device doesn’t get invented till after her death. You could say she was one of the first ones who invented it. Maybe you should go look to see if you can patent it, since it wa-”

“Hermione, I’m sorry, but I really don’t care about when it was invented. I know my mum is brilliant. Now can you please tell me what it’s used for? Is it like a prophecy?” Hermione smiled sheepishly, finally stopping at a page.

“Sorry Harry, you know how I get when I’m excited. Well, it’s not really like the glass orb that contains prophesies, though I do wonder if those balls were perhaps the inspiration for it. Other than a few minor differences, they are quite simila-” Hermione’s mouth snapped shut at Harry’s look and she cleared her throat.

“Right, sorry. Basically, it’s somewhat like a muggle recording device. It can’t generate an image, but it records what the people are saying and can be replayed an infinite amount of times. To activate it, you simply need to tap it and speak the right password. The password, however, would be something the person who created it chose, meaning your mother.

“However, this is an explanation of the actual device which was created after your mother died, but it sounds exactly like what your mother gave you, so I’m sure the concept is quite similar.” Harry grinned like a fool, leaning over and giving Hermione a quick hug before jumping up and dashing away.

“Thank Mione, I owe you one!” He called back over his shoulder and the girl in question just shook her head fondly.

Running through the castle, he dodged the students, since it was a Friday and dinner was nearing, and before he knew it was at the Fat Lady’s portrait. Gasping out the password, he flew through the common room, barely acknowledging Ron and Neville’s hello and burst into his room.

Grabbing the orb, he sat back on his bed and pulled out his wand. He had tried tapping it with his wand previously, but nothing had happened, so now he just needed to figure out the password.

“Lily Potter.” Tap. Nothing happened and Harry frowned, before he remembered that his mum wasn’t yet a Potter when she made this.

“Lily Evans.” Tap. Still nothing. Well, there were a few other options.

“Lily.” Tap.

“James Potter.” Tap.

“James.” Tap.

“Prongs.” Tap.

 “Harry James Potter.” Tap.

“Harry Potter.” Tap

“To my son.” Tap.

“Play.” Tap.

“Time travel.” Tap.

“Future.” Tap

Harry sat back in frustration, his mind whirring. He had no idea what it could be! Shouldn’t his mom choose something that would be easy to guess? Drumming his fingers against the ball, he sighed and decided he would try again later tonight. If he didn’t leave now, he would miss dinner and he was starving. Placing the ball on the small cushion he had conjured a few days earlier, he left the room and headed downstairs.

HP

Harry was lying in his bed, surrounded by the snoring of his dorm mates. He was once again rolling the ball between his hands, pondering what other passwords he could use. He had thought of everything he could, but so far nothing had worked.

Glancing at his old Weasley watch, he saw that it was a minute away from being midnight and thus Christmas. Placing the ball on his lap, he pulled the album over, decided to look through the photos of his own Christmas in the past.

As he picked the book up, his fingers, numb from the cold night air, didn’t grip tightly enough and the book slipped through them, falling to the floor.

Sighing, he leaned over the side of his bed to get it when he saw something was written on the back of the album. Picking it up, he grabbed his wand and casted a lumos, to better see what stood there.

_Lily’s Prongslet_

He could feel himself tensing in excitement. How he had not seen this before, he didn’t know, but then, he never had any reason to turn the album around. He quickly casted an inverted silencing charm, ensuring that no noise will leave his bed-curtains. His fingers shaking slightly, he whispered ‘nox’ and cradled the glass orb in his hand, tapping it lightly as he whispered what he was sure was the password.

“Lily’s Prongslet.”

Immediately, the glass orb flared up with a play of lights, looking as if the Northern Lights were trapped within the ball. After a moment, he heard his mother’s voice issue forth from it.

**_‘Hello Harry. When you hear this, I’ll probably be dead, along with your father. I charmed it so that the password will only work when no sign of my magic remains on you, which will only happen if I died like I suspect I did. That’s why I wanted to leave you this, a reminder of me and your dad.’_ **

**‘Hey kiddo, I’m here as well. Not every day you hear your strapping father’s voice coming from a glass bauble right?’**

**_‘James! Behave yourself!’_ **

Harry chuckled as his mother berated his father, tears creeping silently down his cheeks in the dark.

**‘ _Anyway, I don’t know how much time we got to spend with you, but in case I didn’t get to say this, I will say it now.’_**

**‘Cause your mother is a worrywart. Albeit a beautiful one but still-’**

 A dull smack echoed through the orb, along with James yelping and muttering mutinously.

**_‘As I was saying. I want to tell you to have courage Harry. To never give up playing this game called live. To never lose hope, even when it seems there’s no hope to be found. And Harry, I want you to enjoy life. Get a girl or guy you love and want to spend your life with. Stay healthy, so that you can have the most time with them. Treasure your friends Harry.’_ **

**‘Make sure you find a girl like your mother, because they are irreplaceable and will make your life that much more beautiful. Remember to shine in Quidditch, since it seems you were born to ride a broom! Do what makes you happy. If that means being an auror, a herbologist, a dragon tamer or whatever, we’ll be proud of you! Unless you become a Ministry lackey. That is not acceptable. In fact, I would be very much disa-’**

**_‘Shut up! We don’t care if he becomes a lackey, he still our son. You do what you want to Harry. We’re proud of you no matter what. We don’t have much time left, there’s a limit on how much this orb can record, so we’ll close off with some last advice._ **

**‘Always keep pranking, because it keeps people smiling.’**

**_‘Always work hard and do your best and you’ll get everything you need. Remember Harry, you are so loved, so loved._ **

**_Mummy loves you_ **

**Daddy loves you**

**_Harry, be safe._ **

**_Be strong…_ **

****

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it’s finished!!! I’m sorry for everyone who expressed a desire to see the timeline changed, but this story was never focused on making what happened to harry better. It was focused on him getting a once in a lifetime chance to meet his parents and to heal from everything he experienced. 
> 
> Yes, it’s a bittersweet ending, but it ended with Harry not feeling as if he was the cause of his parents’ death, as well as him being able to hear that even his teenage parents, who technically hadn’t had him yet, were prepared to give their lives for him. 
> 
> I hope you guys liked this fic, as I loved writing it and I look forward to hear what you thought of it! Even if you didn’t comment for the other chapters, please comment on this last one, it would mean a lot to me:)
> 
> *AD BREAK* PS: For those of you who watch anime and have watched Ghost Hunt, I’m going to be posting a short fic on it in a while, I hope you’ll read it ;D

**Author's Note:**

> Viola! What did you think? I will warn you now, there’s not going to be any bigger plotline to this or anything like that, it’s really just a short, sweet four-shot focusing on the time Harry spent with his parents, and most of it is out of Lily or James’ perspective.  
> Please leave thoughts, comments make me wiggle in happiness!


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